4-8-0 Steam Locomotives in Sierra Leone

Class unknown (Locobase 20849)

D[ennis] Rock Carling, 4-8-0 Tender Locomotives (New York: Drake Publishers, Inc, 1972), p. 65. and serial 179 on Table XB, pp. 104-105. Nasmyth Wilson produced the first few in 1910 and 1913; Hawthorn, Leslie added six more in 1914-1915, and North British Locomotive Company delivered five more in 1922.

D Rock Carling observed that the skinny-gauge SLGR was the oldest railway in any of the former British West Africa territories. Lightly built, the 28-30 lb/yard (14-15 kg/m) rails followed the "lie f the land as far as possible so that 1 in 50 (2%) grades and curves abound." Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, boasted "a much steeper bank.

Carling noted that even for the 30" gauge, these were a small engines. Pocket-sized, maybe, but relatively powerful. It had a Belpaire firebox and slide valves. Coal and water rode in small, six-wheel tenders.

Barclay and Bagnall added to the stud in 1944 with a slightly differents set of specs; see Locobase 20850.

Class unknown (Locobase 20850)

D[ennis] Rock Carling, 4-8-0 Tender Locomotives (New York: Drake Publishers, Inc, 1972), p. 65. and serial 179 on Table XB, pp. 104-105. Barclay and Bagnalls produced ten locomotives each in 1944.

22 years after North British delivered the last of the original set of Twelve-wheelers (Locobase 20849), two other builders turned out 20 more. Retaining the basic size of boiler and Belpaire firebox, the later batches presented slightly less cylinder volume, weighed about 2 1/2 short tons more, and trailed a much bigger tender that rolled on bogie trucks. The higher weight and smaller cylinders generated a nearly ideal factor of adhesion and may have reduced slipping on the steep grades.